As 2020 election looms, Facebook says it will let politicians post without fact-checking

With the U.S. 2020 presidential election looming, Facebook on Tuesday said it will not fact check or remove content posted posted by politicians even if it is in violation of the company’s rules.

The company will treat speech from politicians as newsworthy content that should be seen and heard, wrote Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs and communications, in a blog post.

“We have a responsibility to protect the platform from outside interference, and to make sure that when people pay us for political ads we make it as transparent as possible,” said Clegg. “But it is not our role to intervene when politicians speak.”

The only times Facebook will make exceptions are if a politicians’ speech endangers people or if the speech is a paid ad that is not in compliance with Facebook’s community standards, Clegg said. Facebook will also demote but not remove content shared by a politician that has previously been debunked by the company’s fact checkers, Clegg said.

“I hope I have given you some reassurance about our approach to preventing election interference, and some clarity over how we will treat political speech in the run up to 2020 and beyond,” Clegg said.

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